A solemn promise
by chloemcg
Summary: Rioichi finds fatherhood to be a challenge after the death of his wife and reminisces on the event whilst caring for Henriette. Can Rioichi find peace in such a dark time? One-shot/fluffy.


**Disclaimer: I do not own ANY of the characters of Sly Cooper, I especially don't own Rioichi nor Henriette Cooper. I do sort of own Harumi, Rioichi's wife, though.**

 **A solemn promise.**

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The stars in the Japanese indigo skies twinkled softly as they allowed a certain Ninja master Racoon to feel comforted by the gentle moonlights presence as he had laid down upon a singular branch in a tree, still wide awake as he pondered on several things.

Rioichi Cooper sighed as he lain on a bedding of leaves and bamboo sticks, his ears twitching each and every time a little drop of rain hit them as he looked up to the blackened skies with his thoughts lost.

It had only been a day following the invasion of his house and he had lost everything. He had lost his home, his wife, his honour and he had lost a half of his heart all thanks to forces which he knew his family had been running from since the very beginning of their life-long profession.

But there was only one thing that had managed to survive, one thing that made the red panda raccoon cling on to a shred of hope:

His daughter.

Henrietta Cooper, or Henriette, had been born just days before the ransack of the Cooper home.

She was a little 3-month-old Racoon with dark brown stripes and grey fur, she was almost the spitting image of her mother. But the only difference was that, even though he hadn't gotten a very good look at her eyes, she had very pretty little ones.

Not only that but she had a small tuft of 'hair' in between her ears. The last thing was that she had sustained an injury from the nightmarish raid, she had a very deep gash that cut right through her eyelid and probably damaged the cornea and disabling a bit of her sight.

The infant ring-tail lain on her father's stick-thin chest, softly whimpering as she popped her thumb out of her mouth and started to stir as the wind started to encase her tiny body.

Rioichi, aware that his daughter was caught in a draft, subconsciously wrapped his paws around the tiny Racoon and shushed her softly as he tried to calm her down.

The red panda Racoon softly nuzzled his tiny daughter as he repositioned her on his chest and started to cradle her against his chest, letting her cuddle up to him as she tried to keep herself warm in anyway she could.

Henriette whined and whimpered as her one eye fluttered open to reveal a bright teal green.

"There now, my little Shiroribara, papa is here..." He soothed.

Rioichi had always affectionately called Henriette his little Shiroribara, which meant white Rose in Japanese.

He didn't know why he liked calling her such a thing, despite Henriette being as delicate as a rosebud, but it seemed to have stuck and even shone a spotlight over her developing personality, plus the tiny newborn ring-tail seemed to like it too in some way as she somehow seemed to realise that the nickname was meant for affection.

So, opening her good eye, Henriette looked at her surroundings and clung on to her father as she let her tiny nose twitch in the breeze.

Her tiny tail swished from side-to-side enthusiastically as she whined in upset and softly gripped on tight to the adult's chest and she buried her tiny furry face into it as she let out another series of whimpers and squeaks.

Rioichi had no way of knowing what his baby girl was thinking or the exact reasons for her awaking like this, but he did know one thing: he had to do something to make her feel better, or feed her.

"Come now, my delicate orchid, let's get you something to eat..." He muttered as he softly sat himself up, fastening Henriette against his chest with a hand, and he proceeded to use his tail to properly propel himself up to his feet and he proceeded to shuffle the bundle into the crook of his left arm and grab his signature wooden cane that had a C-shaped hook on the tip of it.

He even grabbed his travelling bag whilst he was at it.

The red panda raccoon leapt down from his comfy bedding and climbed down the tree trunk and soon found himself with his feet touching the grass and facing an overgrown bamboo forest which was quite dense.

Honestly, just by studying each branch, Rioichi could tell that the bamboo sticks were very flexible and were even quite strong despite the fact that their very presence might stall his late-night errand.

So, sighing to himself readily, he had to carefully but gracefully weave himself through the gaps the tall branches made as he used some of the reeds to catapult himself and then proceeded to slip expertly through some other tall bamboo sticks.

Whilst he done this, though, Rioichi kept a tight hold on Henriette whom continued to softly whimper with her little fuzzy ears flattening against her skull tentatively. She buried her tiny muzzle into her father's chest as she whined quietly.

Henriette's little injured eye was rather bruised from the attack mere nights ago and, whenever she would try opening it, it would be as plain as day that she couldn't see out of it. The fact that her pupil was Gray and her cornea was clouded was evidence of that.

She would even cry at nights just to see if her father was still there, which he was.

Each time Henriette would cry in pain because of her eye, it would bring the red panda raccoon's mind back to that night when his home was raided and he lost the love of his life to general Le Paradox and a beast made of metal and little fragments of flesh and bone.

Oh that beast, it haunted Rioichi in his slumber and he knew that it would do so for the rest of his days.

Rioichi continued to trek on regardless, starting to approach a small pond which could have been found right beside a nice little river creak that had a nice clean river flowing passed, time doing nothing to halt the gentle flow of the water or even cause a single bit of partial debris. It was like the water was just eternally pristine and fresher than anything.

He sighed upon reaching the pond as he knelt down at the foot of it. He then started to cradle Henriette for a split second whilst he let her nestle in the crook of his arm before wrapping her up tighter in her pink blanket to try and swaddle her just a little bit more before he set her down next to him, using his tail as a means to entertain his little daughter.

Letting his tail coil around the bundle, Rioichi set to work grabbing a fishing pole out of his bag and try and catch some fish.

Usually a baby raccoon would need the nourishment of its mother's milk. It would need to suckle until the infant is at least 12 months old. However Henriette's mother, a young skilled Ninja Racoon named Harumi, had been slain when the babe was only just a couple of days -maybe even a single week- old and Henriette couldn't receive that nourishment.

Rioichi was in a desperate situation at that point so he had her weaned on meats early but he was very careful about it since she didn't have any teeth and couldn't chew it.

Now, though, Henriette had some tiny fangs growing in her upper gums so she was able to properly eat some little sushi cubes so Rioichi could feed his daughter properly...but she still wasn't ready to open her eyes and sit up properly.

It took a minute or so until the red panda Racoon finally caught a koi fish from the pond, snapping the squirming fish in between his hands as he held it.

Putting the fish down, Rioichi removed a knife from his bag and proceeded to cut the fish into multiple little cubes before he put each chunk on a nice clean leaf that acted as a plate.

The russet-furred Ninja raccoon simply brought the bundle closer to him and sat her on his lap whilst he let her prop up against his chest.

Rioichi watched the tiny Racoon sniffle as she whined and whimpered softly and weakly, however her 'good eye' softly opened and spotted the sushi cubes that sat in front of both her and her father.

So, picking up some chopsticks, Rioichi snapped the plastic eating sticks together before he picked up a small cube before he slowly eased it toward his baby girl's mouth.

She looked at the cube for several moments and then back up at her father, she seemed to have been perplexed by this as she clung feebly to the ninja master's chest whilst she whinged in protest.

"Come now, my little Shiroibara, it isn't that bad. You eaten these before, don't you recall?" Rioichi tried to gently coax his little reluctant daughter.

Henriette just whined again and timidly hid her furry face in her father's chest, clearly refusing it out of some sort of worry.

Rioichi sighed deeply as he put the chopsticks down beside the other fish cubes and he held her up so he could look at her as he held her as if she were made of glass. He had a feeling she was simply still getting used to being weaned off of milk so early and missing her mother, Henriette was very little and was still simply a baby.

But he knew that his daughter was strong and very courageous, he had to try and ease her into this and he knew that she could overcome this with time.

Smiling gently, the russet ringtail assured as he tentatively pulled the blankets off of Henriette's tiny head and ran his slender fingers through the little half-blind racoon's tuft of head fur while he rocked her slightly.

"It is alright, Henriette, I promise that you will like this. I know that you miss your..." He paused, reluctantly finishing that sentence with a pained tone in his voice "...Okasan..." he continued in a more gentle tone "...but I am still here and I shall always protect you and look after you, you are my little girl after all."

He affectionately nuzzled her cheek fur with a soft smile on his muzzle. Henriette ceased whimpering as she seemed to have pondered on her father's convincing pleas.

After dwelling long and hard on those words, they seemed to have calmed the little Racoon down a bit as she reluctantly pulled her face away from her father's chest and pried her teary eyes open before she looked down curiously at the cubes and chopsticks.

Rioichi grinned with triumph, his daughter seemed to have been feeling better now! So he carefully positioned her in his right arm and picked up the pair of chopsticks and a single little cube of sushi.

Henriette still seemed rather reluctant but she slowly opened her mouth anyway and let Rioichi plop the thing in her mouth.

Henriette chewed slowly and carefully with an inquisitive look on her tiny face as if she were deciding on whether she liked it or not. The tiny Racoon finally swallowed and even cooed happily when the taste of raw fish overflowed her taste buds.

"Hahaha, that's my girl..." Rioichi smiled proudly as he slowly fed the baby ring-tail some more cubes and, before long, her hunger had been sated and she promptly fell fast asleep inside her father's arms once more but she seemed more at peace now as she suckled on her tiny thumb in her slumber.

Rioichi sighed and kissed the infant's forehead before he proceeded to pack his things up and sling the baby Henriette over his back and slung his bag over his shoulder and he proceeded to begin a long travel as he started to walk with everything packed away, he even packed the little cubes of sushi in a little clean tin that he hoped to feed to his daughter when she grew hungry again.

The russet-furred ninja smiled softly when he felt the cool night breeze brushed against his fur. He would always feel the presence of his deceased wife in the wind as the wind stroked his cheek, he would always feel her warmth in the sunlight whenever it shone in the daytime skies, he would always feel her tears of joy whenever it rained.

But he had a feeling that Henriette would love this feeling too, when she grew old enough to discover the importance of what it all means; she would probably even figure out someday that she came from a very big line of master thieves with honourable intentions.

Would she be happy, would his baby Henriette do good now that she had the world in her hand?

The red panda Racoon was proud of his little girl and he hoped to help Henriette through life, for as long as he could. Rioichi even made a solemn vow that he swore to keep with all costs.

"I promise that I will protect you, my daughter..."

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 **A/N: I haven't done any Sly Cooper one-shots in a while and I haven't done much of Rioichi and Henriette fanfic's, either. I might have to continue with "Threats of the law" soon when I feel well enough, and I actually looked up raccoon facts and I think that was how long Racoon's nurse before leaving their mothers.**

 **I hope you like this one-shot, everyone, and I hope you leave reviews.**

 **Thanks.**

 **-Chloemcg**


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